Dilshan, Sangakkara secure series

An unbeaten century from Tillakaratne Dilshan and 91 from Kumar Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka to a series win over South Africa with one match to play

The Report by Firdose Moonda28-Jul-2013
Scorecard and ball-by-ball detailsTillakaratne Dilshan smashed 16 boundaries in his unbeaten century•Associated Press

An unbeaten century from Tillakaratne Dilshan and 91 from Kumar Sangakkara carried Sri Lanka to a series win over South Africa with one match to play. The pair ensured the hosts achieved the highest successful run chase at Pallekele with six overs to spare to underline some of South Africa’s most pressing issues as they attempt to rebuild their one-day side.At first glance, it would seem the bowlers are to blame but South Africa’s middle-order are the real culprits in their defeat. Hashim Amla and JP Duminy shared a second-wicket stand of 101 to set a strong base for the team but the batsmen who followed squandered the advantage.From 118 for 1, South Africa were 238 all out, losing nine wickets for 120 runs. By contrast, Dilshan and Sangakkara shared a partnership of 184 – Sri Lanka’s highest against South Africa – to maintain their strong record at home against South Africa.South Africa have only won two ODIs in Sri Lanka and their inability to adapt to conditions was exposed again. The absence of quality spinners and senior players to take responsibility in the batting line-up cost them dearly and they will now return to Colombo with only pride to play for.South Africa began to make some amends for their failings with the bat and Hashim Amla’s return was central to that. Amla, who missed the first and third match with injury and could not bat in the second, recovered in time to form one half of South Africa’s fourth opening pair in as many matches.While Quinton de Kock’s inexperience was exposed against Lasith Malinga, when he was yorked for 8, Amla had the Sri Lankan attack erring. The seamers continually offered him too much width and he pulled and cut at will.Amla and JP Duminy, who has looked good without producing results in the series so far, settled in and took the batting powerplay after 15 overs. That proved a tactical mistake. Sri Lanka’s slew of spinners limited run-scoring opportunities and only 22 were scored in the five-over period.The pair succeeded in planting a platform but Amla did not stick around to help the launch from it. He was lbw to Dilshan, who went around the wicket to trap him on the back foot, and even a review could not save him.AB de Villiers’ lean run continued as he was caught behind trying to paddle-sweep. Faf du Plessis also did not contribute, offering a chance to Angelo Mathews in his follow-through and eventually being stumped.Ajantha Mendis foxed the less-experienced players, who have not learnt to pick him. David Miller was bowled by the legbreak and Farhaan Behardien clipped him straight to short leg.The fall of wickets forced Duminy to continue a quiet vigil and his strike rate remained in the 60s, until the last four overs, when he finally decided to launch against Malinga. Duminy managed to improvise, turning would-be yorkers into low full-tosses, but Malinga’s change of pace accounted for the tail.Still, South Africa would have thought they had enough with 198 the previous-best successful chase in Pallekele. Their bowlers started well against a changed Sri Lankan top order – with Mahela Jayawardene replacing Upula Tharanga – as Morne Morkel and Lonwabo Tsotsobe extracted extra bounce and got movement, but ill-discipline infected them again. South Africa sent down 17 wides, taking their series total to 58, and indicating an obvious problem with line.Jayawardene was frustrated by the early squeeze and when he tried to steer Tsotsobe to third man, he was caught by a diving Amla at gully. That was the last success South Africa saw until it was too late. Dilshan showed a willingness to ride out the pressure and looked for singles with Sangakkara instead of going for big shots to thwart the bowlers.But South Africa still had their chances. Sangakkara was on three when he edged Kleinveldt but Amla could not pull off the half chance, and on 33, when Duminy appealed for an lbw against him. South Africa had a review in hand but de Villiers chose not to use it. Afterwards, he said neither Duminy nor de Kock, who was keeping, were convinced, Replays, though, showed Sangakkara was out.His flirtation with fortune over, Sangakkara matches Dilshan blow for blow thereafter. Dilshan was strong square of the wicket and on the pull and brought out his trademark scoop off Tsotsobe. His century came off 119 balls with a swivel down to fine leg.Sangakkara peppered the on-side, with 52 of his runs coming in that area. After Dilshan crossed the century mark, Sangakkara was racing against the remaining runs to get there. He smacked Morkel for two fours to get into the nineties, but fell on his sword when he top-edged to mid-off.Dilshan finished things off to leave South Africa with plenty to think about. Foremost in their minds will be their poor effort in the field, and their decision-making under pressure, both of which need work before Wednesday.

Gazi's ten help South to tight win

A round-up of the second round of the inaugural Bangladesh Cricket League

ESPNcricinfo staff05-Jan-2013
ScorecardSohag Gazi’s maiden first-class ten-wicket haul ended up being the difference in South Zone’s tight win against East Zone in Mirpur. Needing 137 runs to win on the final day with eight wickets in hand, East Zone were in a comfortable position. But their day started disastrously as from 154 for 2, they slipped to 171 for 8 in a matter of six overs, with Gazi picking up four of the six wickets to complete his second five-for of the match. There was a brief resistance before East Zone collapsed to hand over the win to the South.East Zone, after putting South into bat, had struck regularly to reduce them to 196 for 9 with only Anamul Haque getting past 50. But a last-wicket stand 52 runs helped South pull ahead. In response, East made a solid start with Nafees Iqbal and Mominul Haque scoring half-centuries, but a lower-order collapse triggered by Gazi and Abdur Razzak meant that East ended 12 runs behind South.South responded with a century stand for the second wicket between Soumya Sarkar and Anamul and although Nabil Samad picked up six wickets, South again managed 248 in the second innings, setting up a tough fourth-innings chase.
ScorecardA rapid century by Nasir Hossain lit up the last day of the match between North Zone and Central Zone before it ended in a draw. North had already wiped off the 75-run deficit and with a result unlikely, Nasir played attacking cricket to bring up his century of 89 balls with six fours and three sixes. Farhad Reza and Maisuqur Rahman also scored half-centuries in an innings where all eleven of Central’s players were used for bowling.Nasir’s ton overcame his failure in the first innings in which only North’s top-order had contributed to help the team to 361 with Mushfiqur Rahim unbeaten on 76. In response, Central had stumbled to 88 for 4 at one stage, but a 228-run stand between Mohammad Ashraful, who scored 133, and Mehrab Hossain jnr, who scored 131, set the platform for the team to take a first innings lead and take three points from the match.

Cage fighting high beats cricket – Hollioake

Adam Hollioake is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday

Peter English05-May-2012Adam Hollioake, the former England one-day captain, is unsure whether he will continue his cage-fighting career after his professional debut ended in a draw on Saturday.Hollioake, who played four Tests and 35 ODIs, was buzzing after his three-round mixed martial arts bout in Australia, claiming the high was greater than any moment in his 17-year cricket journey.However, he was left wishing he was fitter after running out of stamina towards the end of the nine-minute contest with Queensland’s Joel Miller.”In hindsight I would have taken a bit longer to prepare for this,” he said. “I made a silly mistake in the first round and that cost me. I won the second round and the third round was a non-event really.”The next combat steps depend on Hollioake’s wife Sherryn, who had a cage-side seat and wasn’t comfortable with the spectacle.”I’ll do what she says,” he said when asked if he’ll fight again.

Perry stars in New Zealand win

India slipped to another defeat in the Women’s Quadrangular series, this time to New Zealand by 25 runs at the Clifton College Close Ground

25-Jun-2011
Scorecard
Liz Perry top scored for New Zealand with an unbeaten 48•ICC

India slipped to another defeat in the Women’s Quadrangular series, this time to New Zealand by 25 runs at the Clifton College Close Ground in Bristol.After choosing to field, Jhulan Goswami (2 for 18) struck early blows for India as New Zealand slipped to 5 for 3 before stumbling further to 28 for 4. Player of the Match, Liz Perry, turned the innings around with her knock of 48 off 41 balls with four boundaries. Katey Martin (29) and Nicola Browne (22) played crucial knocks as New Zealand closed on a competitive 125 for 5.India’s chase never took off as wickets fell at regular intervals. Browne ended with figures of 2 for 17 as India ended on 100 for 7 off 20 overs. Only Mithali Raj (24) and Amita Sharma (26) played handy knocks.With this defeat, India’s chances of making the final have all but evaporated. They will play England on Sunday, while New Zealand take on Australia in the final league match before the play-offs on Monday.”It was a chaseable total, no doubt about that,” said a disappointed Goswami. “We lost early wickets in the first six overs and got bogged down. We could not capitalise on the field restrictions and the asking-rate kept mounting. I will offer no excuses, but we could have batted better. The wicket was good and there was only a slight movement in the morning, but in the second half it was very good.”We have the one-day internationals coming up next and we need to be in good shape for that. England is the best Twenty20 team in the world, so it will not be easy for us. We will need to sort it out before that match.”We need a little bit more from each and everyone of us. We cannot make the final barring extraordinary circumstances. But we can still build on the fact that bowling did well to restrict New Zealand. We need to create more pressure.”Perry was thrilled with her effort with the bat. “I had to do a repair job when I walked in,” she said. “It was good that I could put my hand up and play some positive cricket. It was quite a true pitch and the Indians bowled good lines to us. We just did not play that great early on. If anything, the pitch got better to bat on later.”Perry was also upbeat about her team’s chances of beating Australia and making it to the finals of the competition. “Australia are a hard side to beat. If we put up a good performance there is no reason why we cannot make the final on Monday. We have to carry on with the momentum.”

Strauss aims to overturn history

Having rekindled Ashes memories with their draw at Centurion, followed by Stuart Broad’s and Graeme Swann’s second-innings demolition of South Africa at Durban, England are now hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened against Australia

Andrew McGlashan in Cape Town02-Jan-2010Having rekindled Ashes memories with their draw at Centurion, followed by Stuart Broad’s and Graeme Swann’s second-innings demolition of South Africa in Durban, England are now hoping to avoid a repeat of what happened against Australia. Leading the series 1-0, with a chance to take an unassailable lead at Headingley, they imploded in little more than seven sessions.At Newlands a similar chance awaits and this time they want to make it count. As the Ashes showed, England are not at their most comfortable when ahead in a contest. Being favourites, as they now are in many people’s eyes for this series, doesn’t sit naturally with a team that prefer to be classed as underdogs. They need show that they can respond to the pressure of expectation and Andrew Strauss wants his team to prove they can stay ahead.”You want to be ruthless and just as desperate to win when you’re up,” said Strauss. “Sometimes there’s a thing in the back of your mind that you can pat yourselves on the back a little bit and think ‘we’ve got some breathing space’.”But as soon as you think like that, you’re going to get beaten pretty quickly. It’s important to learn how to win when you’re up and be just as clinical and not give the opposition a sniff. We hope we can do that this week”History doesn’t bode well for them, though, and not only because of the Headingley experience last year. Their three most recent visits to Cape Town have resulted in defeats by 10 wickets, an innings and 37 runs and 196 runs. There will also be the expectation from thousands of England fans – many arriving just for this Test – who will want a repeat of the performance at Kingsmead.”You don’t win a Test match on day one. But it’s very, very important that you start the Test match well – so that the opposition don’t get on top of you,” said Strauss. “It’s very much a case of keeping our feet on the ground. I’ve seen enough instances of teams losing one week and then coming back to win the next to know that nothing is guaranteed.”If we’re slightly off our game we’ll get a pretty rude surprise. In a lot of ways that is the kind of lesson we learned from Headingley in the Ashes when we started talking about ‘we could finish it this week; let’s realise our dreams’, and all that sort of stuff.”We should have been talking about just winning the first hour. That’s very much been the talk in the dressing room so far – right back to square one again, work hard to contest every over and hope, if we do that well enough, we’ll get into a position to win the game later on in the week.”It has been noticeable in the days since the victory in Durban how measured the noises from the England camp have been. Andy Flower, as is his style, was very restrained on Friday and kept reiterating that the series is only half-way through and Strauss is singing from the same hymn sheet.”There have been a lot of people telling us how great we were. It’s important we don’t read too much into that,” he said. “It’s very much a case of being desperate to win again and I like the feeling in the dressing room at the moment.”England’s trump card could again be Graeme Swann. He already has 14 wickets in the series and the Newlands pitch can assist spinners later in the game. Last year Paul Harris claimed six wickets in the second innings, and nine in the match against Australia, so South Africa are going to have to combat the spin threat.Strauss will hope he can name an unchanged side for the third match running and the chances of that increased with a positive report on Paul Collingwood’s dislocated finger. He had a lengthy net against pace bowling and also tested his injury with some slip catching, although he may have to be protected in the field.”At this stage, everything looks fine. He was batting without any real discomfort,” Strauss said. “We’re very hopeful, barring any last-minute incidents.” He’s obviously contributed a huge amount, both this series and previously and is an experienced player as well so it would have been a shame if he missed out.”

Jack Morley's six of the best stuns Gloucestershire

Spinner sparks dramatic collapse as Derbyshire take first-day spoils

ECB Reporters Network supported by Rothesay 22-Jun-2025Jack Morley claimed career-best figures of six for 55 as Derbyshire dominated the opening day of the Rothesay County Championship Division Two match with Gloucestershire at the Seat Unique Stadium, Bristol.Bowling around the wicket from the Ashley Down Road End, the 23-year-old left-arm spinner sent down 18.2 overs, sparking a collapse that saw the home side crash from 68 for no wicket to 187 all out after winning the toss.Cameron Bancroft top-scored with 58, while James Bracey contributed 47 and there were two wickets each for Zak Chappell and Alex Thomson. By the close of a day in which six overs were lost to rain, Derbyshire had replied with 116 for two, Harry Came unbeaten on 29.Before play began, players, officials and staff from both clubs stood in line to observe a minute’s silence as a mark of respect for Gloucestershire president and former fast bowler David ‘Syd’ Lawrence MBE, who has passed away at the age of 61 following a long battle with motor neurone disease.Just 50 minutes play followed before rain forced an early lunch, taken at 12.30pm. By the break, Gloucestershire openers Bancroft and Joe Phillips, the latter making his first appearance of the season, had put 35 runs on the board in 12.2 overs.There was little sign of the carnage ahead as the resumption at 1.25pm saw Bancroft and Phillips extend their partnership comfortably before Phillips, on 27, drove Morley in the air to mid-on where Ben Aitchison took a good tumbling catch.It was 82 for two when Ollie Price was bowled on the back foot by a delivery from Morley that hurried through and 86 for three when Miles Hammond advanced down the pitch to the same bowler only to miscue a catch to Aitchison at mid-off.Bancroft went to a solid 114-ball half-century, with 8 fours, but fell with the total on 102, caught behind trying to pull a short ball from Chappell. Gloucestershire’s plight worsened when Graeme van Buuren went lbw to Thomson, pushing forward on off stump, and Ben Charlesworth followed for a duck, caught at second slip by Aitchison attempting to drive the off-spinner.At 114 for six, Gloucestershire’s innings looked in tatters. But Bracey and Zaman Akhter stopped the rot with a seventh-wicket stand that was worth 37 by tea, Akhter playing positively before the break, reverse sweeping Thomson for four and off-driving another boundary in the same over.The England Lions all-rounder continued in the same vein after the interval, timing a sweet straight four off the opening delivery of the session, sent down by Chappell, and quickly following up with a boundary through the covers.Bracey had begun his innings with two edged fours wide of second slip off Chappell. But under clearing skies and early evening sunshine, he also found his touch as the stand reached 64 before Akhter was bowled by Morley on the back foot for 32.Australia Test off-spinner Todd Murphy, making his Gloucestershire debut, could score only one before being caught at deep square pulling a ball from Chappell, Aitchison pouching a fourth catch. Ajeet Singh Dale was bowled by a ball from Morley that straightened and when Bracey, having run out of partners, holed out to long-on Gloucestershire had lost all ten wickets for 119 runs in the space of 36 overs.Derbyshire were left with 28 overs to face before stumps. Openers Lloyd and Caleb Jewell took the score to 49 in the 11th over before Jewell, who had just pulled a six off Akhter, fell to the same bowler, edging a back-foot shot to second slip and departing for 32 off 39 balls.Murphy, brought on as early as the eighth over, was unable to pose the problems caused by Morley from the same end, but 19-year-old seamer Archie Bailey struck with his eighth ball on seasonal debut as Lloyd, having moved untroubled to 35, cut a catch to point.Came and Wayne Madsen saw out the remaining overs as Derbyshire reached the close trailing by only 71 runs.

Mumbai win 42nd Ranji title to end eight-year wait

Kotian and Deshpande broke Vidarbha’s resistance on the fifth afternoon

Deivarayan Muthu14-Mar-2024
Mumbai broke Vidarbha’s resistance on the fifth afternoon and secured their 42nd Ranji Trophy title and first since 2015-16. Spin-bowling allrounder Tanush Kotian and fast bowler Tushar Deshpande crushed Vidarbha’s dream and dismissed them for 368, in an unprecedented chase of 538, after captain Akshay Wadkar and rookie Harsh Dubey had played out a wicket-less morning session.Fittingly, it was veteran Dhawal Kulkarni who sealed victory for Mumbai in what was his last game for them. With his captain Ajinkya Rahane and the Wankhede crowd warmly cheering him on, Kulkarni bowled Umesh Yadav to give himself a winning send-off. Having picked up a fourth-innings five-for in his first Ranji final, against Uttar Pradesh, back in 2009, Kulkarni signed off as a bona fide domestic stalwart for Mumbai.He leaves Mumbai’s seam attack in the safe hands of Deshpande, who bullied Vidarbha with around-the-wicket bouncers on the fifth day and Mohit Avasthi, who was Mumbai’s joint-highest wicket-taker this season with 35 strikes in eight games. Avasthi wasn’t available for the final because of injury, with Kulkarni taking his place.

Shreyas Iyer didn’t take the field for the second day in a row because of a back complaint. But that didn’t stop Mumbai from re-establishing their domestic dominance.Kotian, who finished the season with 502 runs and 29 wickets, earned the Player-of-the-tournament award. It was Kotian who cracked the game open for Mumbai on the final day when he got one to straighten from around the wicket and pinned Wadkar lbw for 102 after lunch. Soon after, he knocked Yash Thakur over to hasten Mumbai’s victory.Earlier in the morning, Wadkar and Dubey had made Mumbai stretch every sinew for a breakthrough. Wadkar, in particular, was either right forward or right back to dead-bat Mumbai’s spinners. Dubey was more adventurous at the other end, unleashing slog sweeps against left-arm fingerspinner Shams Mulani. One such slog sweep over wide long-on, off Mulani, helped Dubey move towards his second first-class half-century in his eighth match.Kotian could’ve cut Dubey’s innings short on 13 had Mumbai reviewed an on-field not-out decision after the offspinner had struck him on the pads. The tracker indicated that the ball would have crashed into leg stump.Akshay Wadkar’s second hundred in a Ranji final was not enough for Vidarbha•PTI

Dubey then survived lbw appeals on 17 and 18 off Kotian and Kulkarni respectively. He kept Wadkar good company in a 130-run partnership for the sixth wicket.Wadkar brought up his second hundred in a Ranji final – and first of the season – when he tapped Kotian through extra-cover for a single. He sank to his knees and put his arms up in a prayer before taking in the applause from the friends and families of the Vidarbha players.The celebrations were short-lived for them as Wadkar and Dubey fell in successive overs. Aditya Sarwate, who was nursing back spasms walked out to bat at No.8, but Deshpande bounced him out for 3. Deshpande hit speeds upwards of 140kph and continued to pepper the lower-order batters with short balls.Kulkarni then took the final wicket and led Mumbai off the field. At the post-match presentation, Rahane hailed Kulkarni’s off-field contributions to the Mumbai team, too, and handed him the trophy to cap a fairytale finish.

Dan Moriarty joins Yorkshire on three-year contract

Managing director Gough says he would “play a big part in everything we are looking to achieve”

ESPNcricinfo staff19-Aug-2023Yorkshire have signed Dan Moriarty, the South African-born left-arm spinner, on a three-year contract from Surrey, making his loan move permanent.Moriarty broke into Surrey’s first team in 2020 and was part of their side that reached the T20 Blast final that season. But he gradually found opportunities harder to come by, and played a solitary game in their County Championship win last year.He played four games on loan at Yorkshire earlier this year, but will spend the rest of the season with Surrey.”I’m incredibly honoured and extremely excited to begin this new chapter with Yorkshire Cricket,” Moriarty said. “Headingley is a special place to play, and I’ve really enjoyed my time with the club so far and I’m looking forward to continue creating special memories and improve my game at such a prestigious club.He added in a Surrey media release: “I am extremely grateful for the opportunities and experiences this club have given me over the past three years. A massive thank you to all players, staff and members for everything. I will look back at my time at Surrey fondly.”Darren Gough, Yorkshire’s managing director, said Moriarty would “play a big part in everything we are looking to achieve” moving forward. Gough said: “I’m pleased to have secured Dan on a three-year deal. He is a brilliant addition to the team – offering up another bow to our bowling attack – and has impressed at Yorkshire.”We are so pleased that Dan is staying at Headingley. He is the kind of player and person who will continue to add so much to our dressing room, and we look forward to him enjoying a long and successful career with the club.”Alec Stewart, Surrey’s director of cricket, said: “It’s always disappointing when a player chooses to leave Surrey to go to another county but after numerous conversations with Mozza I fully understand and respect the tough decision he has taken.”He feels he will get more opportunities at Yorkshire to further his own career ambitions and I wish him well and thank him for the contributions he has given to Surrey since joining us.”

Prithvi Shaw signs with Northamptonshire

India batter to play the remainder of the County Championship and also the Royal London One-Day Cup

ESPNcricinfo staff01-Jul-2023India batter Prithvi Shaw has secured a deal with Northamptonshire to play the remainder of the County Cricket season in England and also be a part of the Royal London One-Day Cup which starts in August. The 23-year-old is expected to join them at the end of the Duleep Trophy.Shaw is part of a strong West Zone side which is tipped to make it all the way to the final of the Duleep Trophy scheduled between July 12 and 16. He may have fallen down the pecking order for India but remains a prolific run-scorer for his state side, Mumbai, in all formats of the game. Shaw hasn’t played any first-class cricket for six months but he did make a career-best 379 off just 383 balls in a Ranji Trophy game against Assam in January 2023.The ability to score runs quickly is a big reason for Shaw’s rise through the ranks since winning the Under-19 World Cup for India in 2018. He had a stunning introduction to Test cricket, scoring a century on debut, but has since then struggled to deal with the quality of bowling on offer in international red-ball cricket. He played his last game as a first-choice pick for India in 2020 and only managed to get back when they had to send a second-string side to Sri Lanka in 2021.Most recently, Shaw was part of the Delhi Capitals in IPL 2023. He went through a six-game stretch where he was unable to score more than 15 runs which led to his being dropped there as well. He did return later in the tournament and immediately struck a half-century.Northamptonshire play in Division One of the English County Championship. They have won just one out of seven games so far and have seven more until the end of the season.This will be Shaw’s first time playing domestic cricket in the UK. He will become the fifth Indian to be part of the 2022-23 season following Cheteshwar Pujara (Sussex), Ajinkya Rahane (Leicestershire), Arshdeep Singh (Kent) and Navdeep Saini (Worcestershire).Shaw is a very attractive package in white-ball cricket, where hitting through the line of the ball is much easier. He is approaching 3000 List A runs at an average of 52.54 and a strike-rate of 123.27 with eight centuries, one of which is a double. Former India opener Gautam Gambhir, in 2022, had even tipped him to lead the country at some point in the future.

CA signs new five-year MoU in massive pay boost for female cricketers

Increase in WBBL salary cap, 25% hike for centrally contracted players could see multiple Australian women break the million-dollar bracket

Andrew McGlashan03-Apr-2023Cricket Australia (CA) has poured money into the BBL and the WBBL under the new five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) which was signed on Monday to try and ensure both leagues remain competitive in the changing global landscape.In a deal where the women’s game was the huge financial winner, the WBBL salary cap has been doubled to AU$732,000 per team amid the increased competition from the Hundred and most significantly the WPL.It comes as part of an MoU that could see multiple female Australian stars break the million-dollar bracket over the coming years alongside overseas earnings, with the top centrally-contracted player now able to earn AU$800,000 when a national deal and WBBL are combined. Domestically, the average earnings for a player with a WBBL and WNCL contract – which is around 75% of cricketers – will be A$151,000.Related

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“I think we’ll have a few of them [earning a million] in the next few years,” Todd Greenberg, the Australia Cricketers’ Association CEO, said. “Some of our girls who are playing in India earn significant amounts of money in the WPL, and on top of this deal now, they will become million-dollar athletes. And so they should because they’re the best in the world at what they do.”Unashamedly we stand here and want them to be remunerated at the levels that we are talking about. That is a wonderful thing, not only for those athletes but for every girl who wants to make a choice of what sport they want to play. Cricket is that choice and it’s where you can achieve those things.”

How Australian women’s cricket is winning

  • Top women’s CA contract holder with a WBBL deal now able to earn AU$800,000

  • Next six contracts potential to earn on average AU$500,000

  • Minimum and average CA women’s contract increases 25%

  • Number of contracts rises from 15 to 18

  • Average domestic earnings for a player with WNCL and WBBL contract now AU$151,019

  • WBBL salary cap doubles to AU$732,000

  • Top WBBL player can earn AU$133,000; average retainer doubles to $54,200

  • Two additional state (and ACT) contracts per team

BBL boost to ward off new leagues

In the BBL, the salary cap has risen from AU$2 million to AU$3million with the top bracket of players now earning A$420,000 for a season in the competition. That money will also come across a shorter tournament after it was trimmed to a 10-game season under the new broadcast deal which begins in 2024, although it has yet to be confirmed if a reduced competition will start with the 2023-24 edition.It is hoped that the new schedule will entice big-name overseas players to sign tournament-long deals, rather than start the BBL and then fly to either South Africa or the UAE as happened last season, while also ensuring more local players do not look to take the route of Chris Lynn who negotiated to split his time between the BBL and ILT20. The average BBL retainer will be worth AU$167,000.The average BBL retainer will be worth AU$167,000•Cricket Australia/Getty Images

“We’re prioritising to make sure playing in the Big Bash is the destination for them,” CA CEO Nick Hockley said. “We are excited about the fact that the BBL going forward will be that tighter 43-game format. Overall, the players on a played-match basis are more than doubling. With those levels, we think it makes it a really competitive proposition for domestic and overseas players.”

Increased central contracts

CA will also increase the women’s national contract list from 15 to 18, with a 25 percent pay increase for those players.”Cricket now clearly offers the best earning opportunities of any team sport for elite female sportspeople,” Hockley said. “I am particularly pleased that this MOU represents another major step forward in the rise of women’s cricket with significant increases in remuneration for the inspirational role models of the world champion Australian women’s team and the WBBL, who are driving substantial growth in female participation.”Centrally-contracted Australian male players will have their pay increase by 7.5 percent to an average of AU$ 951,000 before match payments, while the squad will increase to 24 players. That average figure will cross AU$ 1 million during the lifetime of the MoU.

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